For those of you who have ever worked a job that had any kind of meeting this may actually resonate differently than those who haven’t. When video games are developed there are, surprisingly, a lot of meetings that occur. When we’re talking meetings we’re talking a lot of meetings. So many meetings that it’s actually kind of fascinating to think about. None of the below is really applicable to single developer games that don’t utilize outside contractors. Single developers naturally work entirely alone on their own game and purchase / generate all the assets and resources themselves. Single developers who contract out work still have meetings, interestingly enough. Meetings and Video Games So there’s a lot of cooks in the kitchen. You have the product team, that’s the developer and the game designer along with their associated analysts and support staff. You have a technical team that’s got a considerable…
Over the years automation has taken a powerful hold on online social commentary and allows fraudsters to launch their attacks and scams at scales never seen before. While you’re online, you’re going to want to think of your personal and financial safety when you engage in any monetary transaction. The thing is, it’s very easy to blur the lines between what’s a monetary transaction online and what’s a simple click of a button. Fraudsters use this and launch complicated attacks via bots and other methods to target online users in a variety of categories. Scammers are going try everything they can to separate you from your possessions (virtual and real). Today we’re going to delve into the nuances of scams in the world of video games and MMOs, however the best place to start with the topic is the US Government’s “How to Avoid a Scam” article produced by the…
There’s a few things that’s kind of hard to find in the world of video game collecting and one of them is hilariously enough storage solutions. It’s quite difficult to obtain some method to store and display physical games which is where Rose Colored Gaming’s “Köffin” comes in. A full acrylic shell to cover your game from all edges and protect it from the elements while allowing you to still see the full game inside. About RCC’s Koffin Coming in two variants, a base model at ~$20 USD and a UV protective model at ~$30. They are actually quite extremely expensive with the most sincere honesty here when it comes to game storage. The general plastic covers that you can buy in bulk come maybe a dollar a piece; if you buy from a game store sometimes they’ll charge you a few bucks each. These those come with a hefty…
If you’re looking to play some of the more competitive online games on your phone or tablet you’re going to want to know what the best equipment is. In the below tier list we break things down into the best overall phone / tablets and then the best budget (inexpensive) phones and tablets for gaming. There’s a lot in the market in regards to budget phones so something you will want to avoid is a lot of phones that look too good to be true. Generally in the $50 to $100 category, these phones will do email and phone calls generally alright. Their speakerphones are often terrible and running games will be kind of hard unless they’re extremely simple (like Angry Birds simple). The Best Apple Gaming Phone This answer is right now and has been for the general history of the iPhone: the flagship iPhone. The current flagship is…
I absolutely love following my favorite Twitch streamers. Right now my favorite streamer is Whiskey Ding0, an energetic vtuber (completely unaffiliated with our site) who has an absolute just power to get his chat to reenact the rave from the second Matrix movie. Just nonstop high energy that let’s you relax at the same time as you melt into the fun and excitement of everything going on. It’s a ton of fun and worth a subscription. Content creators deserve to be paid for the work that they do to entertain us and it’s a humbling thought that we all can contribute what we think is fair to them for our personal enjoyment of their content. While recent leaks have shown that is some big bucks; it’s still fair when we consider it’s distributed across millions of people who gained personal enjoyment off of their work. There does come a line…
Limited Run Games is a small publisher and manufacturer of physical video games and the associated goodies that come with them. Their original idea was to sell limited releases of games, essentially take the cost of doing one run, do a bit of math for some profit and then sell the games. Then, in kickstarter fashion, make them and deliver them to their customers. That worked well for awhile, but now they’re sort of a hybrid limited game company. So now games come in an open pre-order cycle with a limited window to purchase and much longer manufacturing times. So let’s dig into a bit about how the Limited Run Games process works. If you’re curious more on the philosophy of LRG, check out our article on the game collector’s market. Closed vs. Open Pre-Orders There is two types of pre-orders: If something is closed then it’s best to make…
Nippon Ichi Software, Inc. of Japan is one of my favorite companies out there. Their North American division is known as NIS America, Inc. or NISA. Their online store is the primary source of NIS games and it’s located here. There’s actually a lot to the store you should know and we’re going to dive into it. NIS America, Inc. Games – What style are they? So what do they sale? They’re best known for the Disgaea franchise. They’re also known for some weirder titles, isometric RPGs and visual novel style games. They also publish games for other developers as well. Some of the more recently known releases would include Crystar, MONARK, Blue Reflection: Second Light, etc. They’ve published games for Atlus and Spike Chunsoft. Fans of their most popular series will know the site well as it’s the absolute best place to secure a copy of a NIS game.…
FFXIV is one of the few MMOs out there that still require a monthly subscription fee, along with the likes of World of Warcraft and uh, I’m sure there is some more out there. Point being, if you want everything the game has to offer you have to pay the subscription fee. Of course, like WoW, Final Fantasy XIV let’s you play for free with some limitations. Unlike WoW, the free trial is actually insanely lofty and pretty much let’s you play most of the game without ever having to subscribe. A Note for Those Who Have Ever Purchased the Base Game Bruh, you’ll have to start over. You’ll have to make an all new Square Enix account in order to play the free trial and, if at any time you upgrade from the free trial, you can not return. So keep that in mind. The good news is that…
The answer is a resounding: of course, it’s up to you to answer is Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack worth it. It’s an objective answer because there’s a few things in play with the question: do you play Animal Crossing or not? If you do, then it’s obviously very much worth it. If you don’t, then well… we dive deeper into that below. Prices validated as of 2023. Since this is a personal decision, let’s start with facts before we share opinion: Price The price boils down to the below: Nintendo Switch OnlineExpansion Pack1 Month: $3.993 Month: $7.9912 Month: $19.99Family (12 Months, 8 Accounts): $34.9912 Months: $49.99$30 increaseFamily Membership (12 Months, 8 Accounts): $79.99$40 increaseComparison between Nintendo Switch Online and the Expansion Pack Features Nintendo Switch OnlineExpansion PackOnline PlayNES & Super NES Game LibraryCloud Game SavesSmartphone AppVoice in Multiplayer (via App)Special Offers (free items in some games)Ability to purchase…
Veteran Internet users know of the turbulent time when Activision bought Blizzard and the gaming community exploded with anger. Of course, this wasn’t the first sell of Blizzard… the gaming company had previously been acquired by Vivendi, Sierra-Online (via CUC) and Davidson & Associates just to sort of measure out a few. Blizzard had a long history with Vivendi and that spree of 1998 to 2008 was pretty much considered their golden years. So, with that said, with all the problems the 2020s have brought Blizzard, what is the solution to their woes? Go back to their glory years where WoW released, Diablo released, StarCraft and StarCraft 2 released, etc. Forget Diablo, It’s Not a “Blizzard” Game Let’s set something straight, Diablo is actually a Condor Games game. Blizzard bought another studio, renamed them Blizzard North and they worked independently from Blizzard. The last thing they produced was in 2001…